


Emulation

by Lenny9987



Series: Lenny's Imagine Claire and Jamie Prompts [61]
Category: Outlander (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-19 16:36:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18138242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lenny9987/pseuds/Lenny9987
Summary: Prompt: Bree shows up on the Ridge with some of Claire's clothes from Lallybroch. Does seeing her daughter wearing some of her old dresses trigger any memories for Claire of little Bree playing dress up in Boston?





	Emulation

Claire stood in the cabin doorway watching Brianna and Lizzie as they moved their things from the wagon into the small shelter where they would be sleeping for the foreseeable future. Lizzie tried carrying too much and Brianna insisted on taking some of it from her to Lizzie’s dismay. 

“Is it just Brianna’s bein’ here tha’s put that smile on yer face, Sassenach?” Jamie asked, coming up behind her and slipping his arms around her waist, pulling her to lean back against him. “Or is there somethin’ particular about wha’ they’re up to?”

Claire rested her hands overtop of his where they met each other on her stomach. 

“She’s wearing one of my old dresses,” Claire remarked. “It was one of the ones missing from the trunk Marsali and Fergus brought. I assumed it was because it had been worn out by then. It was one of my favorites, after all. It’s strange seeing her wearing it now. Surreal almost…”

“Mmmm,” Jamie purred in her ear. “It’s one of my favorites, too. Must’ve gotten it from Ian while she was there.”

“You remember  _ that _ dress?” Claire asked, skeptical. 

“Oh, aye,” Jamie insisted, his tone serious. “It’s one of the ones ye got all the way back at Leoch. I remember ye wearin’ it when we were on the road collectin’ the rents.” His voice shifted to a playful tone. “It’s what ye were wearing when Dougal first suggested we should wed. I remember ye sittin’ there off on yer own, and buildin’ my courage to go talk to ye about it.” 

Claire chuckled at the memory. “Liquid courage if I remember correctly. And you didn’t seem to need nearly as much of it as I did going into our wedding.”

She felt Jamie’s breathy laugh tickle her ear and neck. “Aye. But ye didna need it when ye wore that dress on Quarter Day when ye met the tenants as my lady. Ye held yer head high and smiled on ‘em all, didna flinch at those who doubted ye for bein’ a sassenach. Bree stands as tall and proud as you ever did wearin’ it. Is that what ye see too… lookin at her now?” 

Claire sighed. “I see Bree when she was six years old, trying to keep her balance as she walked down the hallway in my heels,” Claire told him. “I see her helping me fold laundry and pulling on my surgical scrubs because she loved the shade of bluish green they were. I see her wearing my lab coat, the cuffs rolled up and my stethoscope around her neck while she triaged her teddy bears and dolls, diagnosing their conditions and walking them through their treatments.”

Jamie laughed again, bittersweet amusement resonating within the cabin. 

“Did she want to follow in yer footsteps then?”

“Sometimes. More when she was younger. Once she passed the age of ten, she didn’t try to use my things for dress up anymore. As a teenager she’d ask to borrow the odd bit—a scarf, my earrings, a jumper. But it wasn’t the same. She wore them for convenience or to match something that was her own. Not to emulate me.”

Jamie’s mirth had faded with Claire’s more sorrowful recollections. 

“And now? Do ye not think she’s tryin’ to be like you? She’s facin’ an unfamiliar time and place with same strength and grace as you,” Jamie observed. 

“Perhaps… But there’s something else in how she’s behaving that I recognize. I can’t quite put my finger on it.” Claire sighed again and felt Jamie’s arms tighten around her. “It must be what happened between her and Roger. There’s something weighing on her and she’s trying to be and appear strong in spite of it. I don’t think it’s just where and when she is.”

“She’s a woman now, wi’ all the cares that go along wi’ that.” 

“Mmmhmm. Sometimes I wonder when that happened.”

“I suspect it’s always when ye’re no lookin’.”


End file.
